---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 03 Oct 2001 14:30:36 -0700
From: radtimes <resist@best.com>
Subject: Anti-war actions...continued (4)
[multiple items]
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"Patriotism in its simplest, clearest and most indubitable meaning is
nothing but an instrument for the attainment of the government's ambitious
and mercenary aims, and a renunciation of human dignity, common sense, and
conscience by the governed, and a slavish submission to those who hold
power. That is what is really preached wherever patriotism is championed.
Patriotism is slavery." -- Leo Tolstoy
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Anti-war resources:
http://www.alternet.org/issues/index.html?IssueAreaID=26
http://www.peacefuljustice.cjb.net/
http://www.warresisters.org/attack9-11-01.htm#things
http://www.legitgov.org/peaceprotests.html
http://www.igc.org/inkworks/www/downloads.html
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Anti-war protests across Europe.
CNN. 30 September 2001
GENEVA -- Anti-war rallies have been held across Europe amid fears of
impending U.S. retaliatory action following the September 11 terror
attacks.
Thousands of protesters gathered for mostly peaceful gatherings held
over the weekend in Britain, Spain, Greece, The Netherlands and
Switzerland.
In Geneva, around 2,500 people protested on Sunday against potential
military reprisals.
The protesters marched peacefully from the centre of the Swiss capital
to the European headquarters of the United Nations, carrying banners
proclaiming, "No war," and "Stop global terror, fight for justice."
"We want to stop the escalation of military action and we want world
leaders to be aware of global justice for everyone," Maria Casares, one
of the protest organisers, told Reuters.
In Amsterdam, almost 5,000 demonstrators gathered on Sunday in a protest
organised by a group called "The Platform against the New War."
The group consists of about 160 religious and humanitarian organisations
including some Turkish and Arab associations, the coordinators said in a
statement.
"There is police presence but this is a legal gathering organised in
close cooperation with the authorities. The atmosphere is very relaxed
and peaceful. People have come because they are worried," Karel Koster,
a spokesman for the organisers, told Reuters.
In Britain, protesters targeted the opening of the annual Labour Party
conference in Brighton. About 1,000 demonstrators gathered to protest
against possible military strikes against Afghanistan.
The protest had expected to be an anti-globalisation rally, but most
demonstrators shouted anti-war slogans and carried signs that read:
"Peace not war."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D.C. Protesters Call for Peace
By David Ho
Associated Press Writer
Washington Post
Saturday, Sept. 29, 2001
WASHINGTON - Activists and anarchists chanted "no war" as they took to the
streets Saturday, their anti-globalization cause transformed by the
terrorist attacks into a call for peace.
The march began peacefully around 10 a.m., but police used pepper spray to
control some protesters as they passed the D.C. Convention Center. A top
police official was apparently injured in the fracas.
Two officers carried Assistant Police Chief Terrance Gainer behind
barricades l! ate Saturday morning. Chief of Police Charles Ramsey said
Gainer had been sprayed with something.
Arrests were made after the disturbance, said a police spokeswoman, but she
could not provide further details.
The Anti-Capitalist Convergence, an anarchist group based in the capital,
rallied hundreds Saturday morning near Capitol Hill to march to the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank headquarters in downtown
Washington.
Rachel Ettling, 18, of Grand Forks, N.D., was one of several people holding
up two giant paper skeletons labeled "Us" and "Them." A banner hanging
between the skeletons read, "Violence does not solve violence."
"We're urging the administration caution before they go to war in our
name," Ettling said.
Other banners read: "Arab does not equal terrorist," "Destroy imperialism,
not Afghanistan" and "To stop terror, stop terrorizing."
While some protesters arrived in black masks, others marched with their
kids. One prot! ester from Pennsylvania, who identified himself only as
David, brought his 11-month-old son, Sage. "I brought him to teach him what
freedom is like before it's gone," the father said.
While no organized counter-demonstrators met the anarchists, workers at a
construction site cursed the marchers as they passed by.
Ken Childers, 38, a pest-control worker from Maryland, said: "This is
ridiculous. How can they call themselves Americans? ... I can't believe
these people don't want us to defend ourselves."
At an event held in the city to announce a scholarship fund for the
children and spouses of victims of the Sept. 11 attack, former President
Clinton and his onetime political rival Bob Dole were asked about the
anti-war protest.
"This is America," Clinton said. "They are welcome to say whatever they
want to say. ... If the future of the world in the Middle East is what Mr.
bin Laden wants it to be, they would not be able to speak their mind."
Dole agreed, saying, "I understand there were some urging an immediate
response ... but that was declined, fortunately. And I think now we're on a
proper path."
The protests were originally planned to oppose policies of the World Bank
and the IMF. The global financial organizations called off their annual
meetings for this year after the Sept. 11 attacks, and most protesters
canceled their events.
A few groups shifted focus to oppose what they call a rush to war by the
United States that could kill many innocent people. The protesters also
condemned the backlash against Arabs and Muslims and say that the Bush
administration has used the attacks as an excuse to curtail civil liberties.
Police have blamed anarchists for much of the violence at
anti-globalization protests during the past few years. The Convergence
group said in a statement it was toning down its sometimes militant tactics
for this march against U.S. foreign and military policies.
"A rally like that at this time is just inappropriate," said Jim Parmelee,
the head of a group of Republican activists opposing the message of the
protesters. "If I were a family member of one of the folks missing, and I
saw this it's just horrible."
An anti-war coalition led by the New York-based International Action Center
had plans for a larger event Saturday that could draw more than 5,000
people, said organizer Richard Becker. Many groups representing American
Muslims and Arabs were expected at the rally and to participate in a march
that was beginning several blocks from the White House.
The Washington Peace Center and other groups planned another march for Sunday.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anti-War Protesters March in D.C.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A44893-2001Sep29?
Saturday, September 29, 2001
By Christina Pino-Marina, washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Thousands of demonstrators filled the streets of Washington today,
shifting anti-globalization themes to anti-war protests in the wake of
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
Many of the protesters were clad in black clothing with bandannas
concealing parts of their faces; some were equipped with trash can tops
and gas masks to defend against action from the police. Most carried
anti-capitalist and anti-war signs and used bullhorns to deliver their
call for peace.
For the most part, the day had more festive overtones. Groups of dancers
gathered around musicians pounding out fast rhythms on drums and bells.
Sarah Andrew, 23, danced barefoot in front of a stone fountain near the
Capitol as other protesters waded through the water.
"I would like to think that this feels much more positive than it would
have if there had been World Bank protests," she said.
Most of the clashes between protesters and police stemmed from a morning
march organized by the D.C.-based Anti-Capitalist Convergence group. That
march, which began about 10 a.m., lead participants from Upper Senate
Park near Union Station to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund
headquarters at Pennsylvania Avenue and 18th and 19th streets NW.
D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey said in an interview that there were
fewer than a dozen arrests of demonstrators by 3 p.m. Many of those were
arrested for breaking police lines or parading without permits, but even
some of the protesters who had not received permits were allowed to
continue with their demonstrations.
A brief standoff between anti-war demonstrators and counter-demonstrators
occurred during the second march, which was fed partly by participants
from the earlier demonstration. The second march began at Freedom Plaza,
14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, shortly after 3 p.m. and ended at
the U.S. Capitol.
Demonstrators moving down Pennsylvania Avenue were confronted in front of
the National Archive building, 700 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, by a group of
about 50 people waving American flags and signs stating among other
things "Welcome bin Laden Fan Club," "Defending Ourselves is a Good
Thing," " War Got Rid of Hitler" and "Traitors and Cowards Rally."
Police were able to keep the two groups separated and keep things
peaceful.
Rob Chalkley, of Reston, who was among the counter-demonstrators, said,
"I wanted them to know that theirs is not the only voice out here."
The second march, which drew thousands of protesters, was organized by a
coalition called International ANSWER, Act Now to Stop War and End
Racism. The group was formed by the International Action Center, a New
York political activist organization that originally had planned to
surround the White House.
D.C. police had estimated that 4,000 people would take part in anti-war
events in the city today, and a counter-demonstration had also been
scheduled at the Washington Monument.
As many as 100,000 protesters had been expected to converge in Washington
this weekend to demonstrate during the IMF and World Bank meetings. The
meetings were canceled after terrorists leveled the World Trade Center
towers and destroyed a section of the Pentagon, killing thousands. Some
protests groups abandoned their plans to rally in Washington, but others
quickly mobilized behind the growing anti-war movement.
At the core of the anti-war sentiments, some protesters say, is the
belief that Osama bin Laden, the Saudi fugitive targeted by the Bush
administration as the mastermind behind the attacks, should be brought to
justice through courts instead of military force.
Natalie Williams, 68, of East Harlem, N.Y., who participated in the march
to the IMF and World Bank headquarters, carried an anti-war poster
showing with a no-bombing icon.
"I don't categorize this speaking out against a potential war as
anti-American," Williams said. "I'm objecting to the policies of America.
The U.S. -- they were the ones who set up these policies, this
exploitation of people around the world."
Many of her fellow protesters carried black and red flags and beat drums
and the bottoms of plastic buckets.
At one point during that march, there was a brief skirmish between
protesters and police on H Street, between 11th and 12th streets.
Demonstrators surrounded a police cruiser and sat on the hood of the car.
Officers responded by spraying pepper spray and backing the protesters
away from the scene.
Gabe Talton, a lawyer from the National Lawyer's Guild who was at the
march as an observer, said he witnessed the incident.
Protesters "surrounded the car and tried to stop it and another red SUV,"
he said. "They sat on the cars, and then the police sprayed some pepper
spray. I don't think anyone was hurt, but I did see a policewoman who had
her helmet stripped off."
One police official was hit by some pepper spray during the march.
Executive Assistant Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer was seen near the
World Bank splashing water on his face and in his eyes. Sgt. Joe Gentile,
a police spokesman, said Gainer was not seriously injured, adding, "He
just got hit in the eyes with some pepper spray."
But even during the morning march, most protesters focused on their
message and not aggression toward police.
Katrina Errico, 18, who hitchhiked from San Francisco, said the terrorist
attacks caused a significant change in the tone of today's protest.
"It's geared a lot more towards peace, love and unity," Errico said.
"Before it would have been a lot more radical and violent. The attacks
kind of calmed people down a lot."
Another protester, a 20-year-old man from Western Pennsylvania who would
only identify himself as "Fusion," said instead of military strikes, he
prefers for the United States to try negotiating with those responsible
for the attacks.
"We should try any solution except destruction. If there is no possible
way to negotiate peace and truce, we may have to support military
strikes," Fusion said. "We should find out what it is they hate about us.
We should make compromises in our support of Israel, and we should end
our absolute economic imperialism. Both the United States and the
terrorists share responsibility in the attacks."
After protesters reached the World Bank and IMF headquarters, police
prevented them from leaving for about an hour. Police circled protesters
in front of the World Bank and blocked off the entrance to the World Bank
with metal dividers and a police line. During that time, protesters
played soccer, held hands and chanted. There was some taunting of
officers as well. When police officers were ready to allow the group to
move again, they pushed the protesters, directing them back down H
street.
U.S. Park Police showed up in black riot gear to help bolster the police
presence. They established lines on cross streets to help control the
crowd movement.
About 1 p.m., at H and 15th streets NW, another brief clash occurred
between demonstrators and police. Streams of pepper spray dispersed the
crowd, and Chief Ramsey, who had been leading a line of police ahead of
the protesters, helped pin down one demonstrator, who was handcuffed and
taken away.
The demonstration moved down 14th Street to Freedom Plaza, where
demonstrators joined the hundreds of other protesters for the second
march.
Onlookers watched from behind shop windows and along the march route.
Darryl Williams, a tourist from Rochester, N.Y., said he was distraught
by the activity. "Right now, I am nothing but angry when I see this; all
they are doing is dividing the country," he said. "They don't appreciate
what they have."
Tomorrow, an event organized by the Washington Peace Center and the D.C.
office of the American Friends Service Committee will take place at 11
a.m. at Meridian Hill Park, 16th and Euclid streets NW. That march will
take demonstrators through Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anti-War Protesters March in Washington
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-092901protest_wr.story
September 29 2001
By DAVID HO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Activists and anarchists chanted "no war" as they took to
the streets today, their anti-globalization cause transformed by the
terrorist attacks into a call for peace.
Police used pepper spray to control some protesters as they passed the
D.C. Convention Center.
Two officers carried Assistant Police Chief Terrance Gainer behind
barricades late this morning after he was sprayed by a substance. He was
back directing police operations soon afterwards.
Arrests were made after the disturbance, said a police spokeswoman, but
she could not provide further details.
The Anti-Capitalist Convergence, an anarchist group based in the capital,
rallied hundreds this morning near Capitol Hill to march to the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank headquarters in downtown
Washington.
Rachel Ettling, 18, of Grand Forks, N.D., was one of several people
holding up two giant paper skeletons labeled "Us" and "Them." A banner
hanging between the skeletons read, "Violence does not solve violence."
"We're urging the administration caution before they go to war in our
name," Ettling said.
Other banners read: "Arab does not equal terrorist" and "Destroy
imperialism, not Afghanistan."
While some protesters arrived in black masks, others marched with their
kids. One protester from Pennsylvania, who identified himself only as
David, brought his 11-month-old son, Sage. "I brought him to teach him
what freedom is like before it's gone," the father said.
While no organized counter-demonstrators met the anarchists, workers at a
construction site cursed the marchers as they passed by.
Ken Childers, 38, a pest-control worker from Maryland, said: "This is
ridiculous. How can they call themselves Americans? ... I can't believe
these people don't want us to defend ourselves."
At an event held in the city to announce a scholarship fund for the
children and spouses of victims of the Sept. 11 attack, former President
Clinton and his onetime political rival Bob Dole were asked about the
anti-war protest.
"This is America," Clinton said. "They are welcome to say whatever they
want to say. ... If the future of the world in the Middle East is what
Mr. bin Laden wants it to be, they would not be able to speak their
mind."
The protests were originally planned to oppose policies of the World Bank
and the IMF. The global financial organizations called off their annual
meetings for this year after the Sept. 11 attacks, and most protesters
canceled their events.
A few groups shifted focus to oppose what they call a rush to war by the
United States that could kill many innocent people. The protesters also
condemned the backlash against Arabs and Muslims and say that the Bush
administration has used the attacks as an excuse to curtail civil
liberties.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D.C. Protesters Call for Peace.
AP. 29 September 2001.
WASHINGTON -- Activists and anarchists chanted "no war" as they took to
the streets Saturday, their anti-globalization cause transformed by the
terrorist attacks into a call for peace.
The march began peacefully around 10 a.m., but police used pepper spray
to control some protesters as they passed the D.C. Convention Center.
A Metropolitan Police Department spokeswoman said arrests had been made,
but she could not provide further details.
The Anti-Capitalist Convergence, an anarchist group based in the
capital, rallied hundreds Saturday morning near Capitol Hill to march to
the International Monetary Fund and World Bank headquarters in downtown
Washington.
Rachel Ettling, 18, of Grand Forks, N.D., was one of several people
holding up two giant paper skeletons labeled "Us" and "Them." A banner
hanging between the skeletons read, "Violence does not solve violence."
"We're urging the administration caution before they go to war in our
name," Ettling said.
Other banners read: "Arab does not equal terrorist," "Destroy
imperialism, not Afghanistan" and "To stop terror, stop terrorizing."
While some protesters arrived in black masks, others marched with their
kids. One protester from Pennsylvania, who identified himself only as
David, brought his 11-month-old son, Sage. "I brought him to teach him
what freedom is like before it's gone," the father said.
No organized counter-demonstrators met the anarchists.
The protests were originally planned to oppose policies of the World
Bank and the IMF. The global financial organizations called off their
annual meetings for this year after the Sept. 11 attacks, and most
protesters canceled their events.
A few groups shifted focus to oppose what they call a rush to war by the
United States that could kill many innocent people. The protesters also
condemned the backlash against Arabs and Muslims and say that the Bush
administration has used the attacks as an excuse to curtail civil
liberties.
An anti-war coalition led by the New York-based International Action
Center had plans for a larger event Saturday that could draw more than
5,000 people, said organizer Richard Becker. Many groups representing
American Muslims and Arabs were expected at the rally and to participate
in a march that was beginning several blocks from the White House.
The Washington Peace Center and other groups planned another march for
Sunday.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Activists speak out against war, racism
Judy Gerber, Gay.com / PlanetOut.com Network
Thursday, September 27, 2001
While New Yorkers continue to mourn for all the people
lost at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, LGBT
activists and their friends have taken little time to
pause before starting their organizing efforts to oppose
racism and the U.S. government's plans for war.
New York's Queer Economic Justice Network (QEJN) has
issued a call for LGBT organizations to oppose war
and "denounce the racist and xenophobic attacks that
are taking place against Arab, Muslim, South Asian
and Central Asian communities."
So far, at least a dozen LGBT organizations in the
New York area, including Queers for Racial &
Economic Justice, Pride at Work, ACT UP/NY and
Al-Fatiha Foundation for LGBTQ Muslims & Friends,
have signed on to QEJN's declaration.
Aleem Raja, the co-chairman of Trikone, an organization of Bay Area
South Asian gays and lesbians, sees gay people having a natural
inclination to understand and empathize with the vulnerability being felt by
Asians and Arabs. "White gay people have contacted us, many who
identify with on-the-street hatred suffered by being who they are," Raja
said.
The Brooklyn-based Audre Lorde Project (ALP), which focuses on
communities of color, issued a statement Sept. 19 addressing the dual
tasks of mourning and organizing against the targeting of particular
nations and people of color in the United States. ALP also called on LGBT
organizations "to reject the mantra of single-issue politics that is being
used to insulate some of us from responding to this current crisis."
"We need to understand the context"
Tinku, a Bangladeshi-born activist with Quit! (Queers for Palestine),
prefers his full name not be used for fear of reprisal in the current climate.
He called the hijackings and the destruction at the World Trade Center and
Pentagon "a momentous, terrible calamity, very tragic and horrific."
"What's significant is this happening on U.S. soil," he added. "There have
been atrocities across the world. We need to understand that context.
History is very important."
Women in Black is an international women's group started by Israeli and
Palestinian women to promote peace between their peoples. The group
has now added opposition to anti-Arab, anti-Muslim violence and racial
profiling here, and opposition to war against Afghanistan, to its
agenda.
The fact that the United States is pointing to "Muslim fundamentalists" as
responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks doesn't make Kate Raphael of
Women in Black feel any different about opposing retaliation because
she's a lesbian. She said it "will do nothing" to bring more death and
suffering down on people who've already experienced huge devastation.
COLAGE, Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere, also spoke out
because its mission is to create a world safe for all people, said executive
director Felicia Park-Rogers. The group speaks of concern about the
prospect of going to war and expresses support for Arab Americans,
Muslims, and Sikhs because "they are people who we know are often
marginalized and made to feel different, and we know what that's like."
Park-Rogers said she didn't receive one negative response or question
about why COLAGE was taking a stand when she e-mailed the statement
to over 2,000 people. "All I got," she said, "were e-mails of thanks" for
speaking out.
San Francisco Dyke March Committee members are also speaking out.
"We've been absolutely disgusted by what happened," said spokeswoman
Lisa Roth. "But it's also made me feel sick to think of what this country
may do to retaliate and what some Americans are doing already to Arab
and Asian people here. We can't just sit back and let that happen."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anti-war press cranks up
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/09/28/DD235070.DTL
Peace News offers alternative view
James Sullivan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, September 28, 2001
A coterie of veteran underground newspaper publishers is printing what the
contributors believe is the first special-edition anti-war publication in
the country since the terrorist attacks.
"We realized we had to do something," said Allen Cohen, publisher of the
Oracle, the leading psychedelic paper of the Haight-Ashbury heyday. "We
couldn't stand by while the world hurtles over the waterfall of desperate
acts. "
Peace News is scheduled for print later today, with many of the first copies
set for distribution tomorrow at an 11 a.m. anti-war demonstration in San
Francisco's Dolores Park.
Cohen and John Bryan, who has worked at various daily newspapers and was
managing editor of the L.A. Free Press, say they bumped into each other the
day after the World Trade Center attacks at the Mission District bookstore
where Bryan works. In an instant, they both realized it was time to crank up
the old counterculture presses.
"I looked at him and he looked at me," said Bryan, "and we said, 'Holy s--,
what are we gonna do?' "
The 12-page broadsheet features contributions from a who's who of contrarian
commentators, including Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, Lawrence Ferlinghetti,
Diane di Prima, Paul Krassner, Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic and cartoonist
Spain Rodriguez.
Some of the poems and essays were written for Peace News; others, such as
Moore's moving piece about his recent return to New York, have also appeared
on the writers' Web sites. There's a piece by the late Charles Bukowski,
onetime associate of Bryan's Open City Press, titled "Peace, Baby, Is Hard
Sell."
The overall purpose, say the editors, is to express concern about further
violence and the erosion of civil liberties in America.
"We better get this out fast," Bryan said Wednesday, shuffling around the
bookstore in his stocking feet while a friend pasted up pages on a table in
back. "They're not going to let reporters cover the war. Bush is talking
about 'secret victories.' "
Bryan, an old-school newspaperman who often found himself at odds with the
hedonistic staff members of the hippie papers, couldn't help needling his
colleague, Cohen: "He believes in peace and love and all that s--," he said
with a cranky smile.
Despite their differences, he said, their alarm over potential privacy and
free-speech issues has united them.
"Is this the second Reichstag fire?" Bryan asked. "It's not that far out an
idea."
Cohen said he is beginning to sense a mobilization of anti-war voices, after
a period after the attacks in which nearly all criticism of the Bush
administration or U.S. foreign policy was suppressed.
"If you pay close attention to what's happening on the talk shows, we're
getting a second wave now. People are thinking about the dangers involved in
too violent, too destructive an act."
After an initial run of about 17,000, the editors of Peace News say they
will reprint as many copies as they can afford through grassroots fund
raising.
Future editions are doubtful, though Cohen said contributors have been eager
to participate. "We already have more than we can use."
Bryan said it's up to others to carry on with similar projects. "I think
we're the first. We won't be the last, though. That's clear."
----------
E-mail James Sullivan at jamessullivan@sfchronicle.com.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Edition - NPR
Friday, September 28, 2001
Peace protesters expected in Washington, DC, over the weekend
to protest possible military action against Afghanistan
BOB EDWARDS, Anchor
BRIAN NAYLOR, Reporter
BOB EDWARDS, host:
Demonstrators have scheduled a peace rally for this weekend in
Washington. Thousands of people are expected to express their opposition
to US military action in Afghanistan. Authorities in the nation's capital
already were bracing for another protest against the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund. The World Bank and IMF canceled their
meetings after the September 11th terrorist attacks. NPR's Brian Naylor
reports.
BRIAN NAYLOR reporting:
In the days since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,
there have been aircraft carrier deployments, call-ups of reservists and
National Guard troops, and much speculation about where and how US
military forces would retaliate. Parallel to the call to arms, peace
activists have been slowly gearing up as well. On Saturday and Sunday,
organizers expect thousands will gather in Washington for anti-war
rallies and a march to the Capitol. The activists all say they were
repulsed by the terrorist attacks, but say a military response by the US
will only perpetuate a cycle of violence. Maria Ramos is coordinator of
the Washington Peace Center.
Ms. MARIA RAMOS (Coordinator, Washington Peace Center):
The country, we're shocked, we're enraged, and we want to respond. We
want to respond now. But we have to ask ourselves, 'Do we really want to
respond to the cruelty and to the insanity of this political violence
with more blood on our hands?'
NAYLOR:
Demonstration organizers say US government policy bears some
responsibility for the September 11th attacks. They cite everything from
US backing of the Contra Rebels in Nicaragua to support for Israel as
reasons why someone might want to attack the US. Grayland Haggler(ph), a
Washington minister, says it's not about blaming America first, as
critics have charged.
Reverend GRAYLAND HAGGLER:
When you find yourself into the midst of some trauma, it causes you to
reflect, first of all, and to ask yourself a question of, 'What did I do,
or what didn't I do to end up in this situation? Who have I offended and
what could I have done that was different?' It is not a matter of
blaming oneself or blaming America first, but it's a matter of how do
you get better.
NAYLOR:
Many of the groups involved in the weekend anti-war protests were also
involved in the demonstrations against the IMF and World Bank. They
say it's not a big leap from demonstrating for economic justice to
protesting against war. Despite polls which show support for the
president, and for US military action, hovering around 90 percent,
activists say they represent a significant minority. Brian Becker is
co-director of the International Action Center, which is organizing
Saturday's march.
Mr. BRIAN BECKER (Co-director, International Action Center):
We don't base ourselves on polls. We base ourselves on principles. And
so the principles of peace, the principles against war and racism, the
need to defend civil liberties, even by your own count we represent more
than 20 million people, and thousands of them will be there on Saturday.
NAYLOR:
Washington police had been expecting up to 100,000 demonstrators
for the World Bank-IMF meetings, and planned to erect a 10-foot-tall
chain-link fence around the White House and downtown Washington. Now
there will be no fence, and executive assistant police Chief Terrence
Gainer says there will probably be more cops on the streets this weekend
than protesters. He also says there could be some counterdemonstrations.
Chief TERRENCE GAINER:
I hope the worst of it is is they're shouting at each other from each
side of the street, and that they're respectful of their individual
rights to have their particular perspective on what's going to go on and
what has gone on.
NAYLOR:
The anti-war groups had hoped to have their rallies in Lafeyette
Square across from the White House, but citing security reasons, officials
have moved them further up Pennsylvania Avenue. Brian Naylor, NPR News,
Washington.
EDWARDS:
The time is 21 minutes before the hour.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greeks Chant Anti-American Slogans
By Associated Press
September 27, 2001, 9:25 PM EDT
ATHENS, Greece -- Thousands of demonstrators, some gathering near the U.S.
Embassy, rallied in Athens Thursday against a U.S. military response to the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
About 5,000 marchers, including anti-globalization activists and groups
backed by the Greek Communist Party, demanded that Greece refuse to
participate in any military action the U.S. might undertake against
Afghanistan.
Violence broke out when a group of youths in masks and crash helmets clashed
with riot police and other marchers as they tried to join the demonstration.
At least one person was slightly injured, though police didn't report any
arrests or serious damage.
Later, a few hundreds protesters chanting anti-American slogans rallied
outside the U.S. Embassy in Athens.
"We stand with the American people in their sadness ... (but) we condemn the
crimes committed by the American government," said one elderly demonstrator,
Panagiotis Valais.
The government is concerned that anti-American incidents could hurt the
country's image abroad. A small but vocal fringe here argues that the United
States provoked the terror attacks at the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon through what they see as arrogance and dictating global policies.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Activists to appeal
Rallies planned in S.F., D.C.
by Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle
Friday, September 28, 2001
As peace activists prepare for demonstrations tomorrow in San Francisco and
Washington, D.C., organizers say they will hit on themes that will sound
far different from the ones voiced in anti-war protests of years past.
"Protesting this war will take innovative strategies that have to respond
to situations that will be very fluid," said Jerry Sanders, a University of
California at Berkeley professor of peace and conflict.
While organizers are still groping to find those new strategies, they
realize that stopping traffic, flag-burning, love-ins and most other
vintage anti-war demonstrations won't register with people still mourning
one of the deadliest days in American history.
As the Rev. Cecil Williams of San Francisco said, "None of that stuff is
going to fly now."
Organizers say the 10,000 people expected at tomorrow's 11 a.m. rally in
Dolores Park in San Francisco will promote their cause by emphasizing what
all Americans share: grief for the dead and missing, and condemnation for
their attackers; a desire to bring those responsible to justice, despite
differences on how to do that; and a fear of ways the world is changing.
The new peace activists say America must win its war at home and not let
the push for increased security lead to racial profiling and the
scapegoating of Arab Americans and others of Mideast and South Asian origin.
Advocates of nonviolence believe their window of opportunity is narrow.
Peace isn't an easy sell in ! these flag-rimmed days, with polls showing
strong support for a military response to the attacks in New York and near
Washington.
"As soon as American GIs start losing their lives, then it will be 10 times
harder for the peace movement. Then, everyone will be focused on
'supporting our boys,' and there will be a lot of pressure not to disrupt
that," said Humboldt County activist David Meserve, who has been
encouraging his Arcata neighbors to contact Washington leaders from a fax
machine in the back of his truck.
Activists are encouraged by recent polls. Those taken immediately after the
attack found near-unanimous support for a counterattack, even if innocent
civilians were killed, but several polls taken this week showed support for
that course of action slipping to roughly 70 percent.
"People are afraid," said Medea Benjamin, a longtime activist who will
speak at Saturday's rally. "Afraid of biological weapons, of being blown up
as they drive across t! he Bay Bridge. Once fear replaces that bloodlust,
then the arguments of the peace movement gain more weight."
Organizers say they are energized by recent comments from the Bush
administration officials cautioning Americans not to expect an instant
counterattack. And like the administration leaders who say the war on
terrorism will be different from others America has fought, those in the
peace movement say their tactics will change, too.
Tomorrow's multicultural lineup of speakers spans four generations, and
will be accompanied by musical styles ranging from hip-hop to spoken word
to John Lennon's "Imagine." Organizers say that's another change from
'60s-style war protesters, who warned against trusting anybody over 30 and
often were led by white, middle-class college students.
But this weekend's solidarity may weaken should the war drag on.
Sanders said it would be increasingly difficult to protest a war that
administration officials say will be la!gely unseen by the American public
-- fought by covert agents, small groups of commandos and cyberspace
jockeys. There may be no nightly TV news footage to rally protesters, as
there was during the Vietnam War and other conflicts.
So instead of adopting yesteryear's confrontational, us-vs.-the-
establishment tone, peace marchers will talk about common ground.
"Everyone wants to 'get' these guys," said Kevin Danaher, co-founder of
Global Exchange, one of several co-sponsors of tomorrow's San Francisco
event. "But what does 'get' mean? For us, it does not mean more military
action."
Past protesters sometimes sympathized with Washington's opponents -- the
Viet Cong, the Sandinistas or the Cuban government -- but Benjamin said,
"There's no one who will talk about how the other side is 'good.'
"We have nothing positive to say about these terrorists."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thousands in anti-US protest in Athens.
AP. 27 September 2001.
ATHENS -- Several thousand people responded to an appeal by the Greek
communist party Thursday and took to the streets of central Athens to
condemn the US "imperialist war" following this month's suicide attacks
in the United States.
The demonstrators marched to the parliament shouting "American killers
of the peoples" and "The peoples are not terrorists."
At the head of the march was a row of women dressed in black and
carrying a banner reading "Terrorism - NATO-CIA."
Other banners in the crowd read: "No to the imperialist war" and "Bush
is a terrorist."
Organisers said more than 8,000 people took part.
Anti-riot police were deployed in the city center for the march, in
particular around the US embassy.
The protesters were to hand in to parliament a petition demanding an end
to the "preparations for war," and condemning the "threat of violation
of peoples' freedoms."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Yorkers are not out for revenge
An anti-war movement is starting to build across the United States
by Duncan Campbell
Wednesday September 26, 2001
The Guardian
>From the top floor of 330 42nd Street in New York you
can see both the Empire State building now bathed at
its summit in a red, white and blue light and, to the
south, the cloud of smoke that still hangs over the
ruins of the World Trade Centre. The resonance of both
sights could not be missed by the hundreds of people
who poured into the penthouse conference hall made
available by a local union one night last week.
It was a snapshot of New Yorkers: young, old, black,
white, brown, Puerto Rican, Indian, Vietnamese,
Mexican, Jewish, Islamic, Catholic, scruffy, smart,
stroppy, witty, hip, self- confident, about half of
them men, half women. Depending on what happens now in
what CNN calls "America's new war", the gathering on
this humid New York night, 33 floors above the
hustlers of Times Square, could have a small part in
history.
This was the first major meeting of a growing anti-war
movement in the United States. There were young women
from Sarah Lawrence College and burly organisers from
the Service Employees International Union who had lost
colleagues in the attack - some 29 members in all.
There was the organised left and the disorganised left
and many who had lost friends or colleagues and were
disturbed by the rhetoric calling for violent
retribution.
Here, for instance is what columnist Zev Chafets had
recommended the previous day in the New York Daily
News: "The US must invade these countries [Iran, Iraq,
Syria], dismantle their unlatched governments,
disperse their armies and seize their arsenals. Think
of it as the German model. If there isn't time, if one
or more of the Axis regimes seems capable of attacking
with nukes or germs before US forces get there, these
regimes and their infrastructure, arsenals and
leadership will have to be dismantled by whatever
means necessary: the Japanese model." Or here's Lance
Morrow in Time: "Let America explore the rich
reciprocal possibilities of the fatwa."
A CBS/New York Times poll suggests that 75% of those
interviewed backed military retaliation even if it led
to the loss of innocent lives. Maps showing "Lake
America" where Afghanistan now is and T-shirts with
Bin Laden in the cross-hairs and the legend "America
says Fuck You" tell their own story. Only one out of
535 members of Congress, Barbara Lee, the Democrat
from Oakland, voted against giving President Bush
carte blanche for military retaliation.
But what perhaps is less audible in Britain is the
large number of dissenting voices who may well have
suffered terrible personal loss but do not see that as
good reason for visiting the same kind of damage on
some stranger. Professor Orlando Rodriguez of Fordham
University, for instance, lost his son Gregory, aged
31, in the attack. Like many others, Gregory
Rodriguez, the head of computer security for Cantor
Fitzgerald, had telephoned home to say he was OK just
before the second plane hit. Professor Rodriguez had
been horrified by all the calls for massive
retaliation: "Not in my son's name you don't. I don't
want my son used as a pawn to justify the killing of
others."
In Union Square, which has become the unofficial and
haphazard shrine to the dead, there are many, many
messages attached to photos of the dead which are
essentially pleas for restraint, calls for peace. The
words written outside fire stations by the weary
firefighters mourning their colleagues are not of
gung-ho revenge but reflective sadness; outside the
station on 51st Street, 10 of whose crew had died, the
words beside the photos of the dead men were "We'll
leave the light on", not a call for "bombs away".
Over the weekend, more than 150 campuses around the
country held vigils or rallies calling for peace.
Voices that urge restraint are coming from many
directions. Here is the main editorial comment in the
New Yorker from Hendrik Hertzberg: "The terrorists of
September 11 are outlaws within a global polity. Their
status and numbers are such that the task of dealing
with them should be seen as a police matter of the
must urgent kind. The goal of foreign and military
policy must be to induce recalcitrant governments to
cooperate, a goal whose attainment may or may not
entail making general war on the people such
governments rule." And those voices are increasingly
making themselves heard.
The hundreds who gathered high on 42nd Street to form
an anti-war coalition may have many different ideas
about the right response, which verge from the wholly
pacifist to the limited use of the military to bring
to justice those responsible. But they were united in
their opposition to any policy that would result in
the deaths of other people in distant countries who,
like those beneath the smoking ruins so hauntingly
visible from the 33rd floor, one day went off to work
or play and never returned.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At least 20,000 march in Naples anti-war demo
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010927/1/1iv1l.html
NAPLES, Italy, Sept 27 (AFP) - At least 20,000 anti-war demonstrators
marched peacefully through Naples Thursday to protest a military
build-up and the threat of a global conflict in the wake of anti-US
terror attacks.
Hundreds of Italian police and paramilitary carabinieri, who put the
crowd at 20,000, kept a close watch on the march, but the gathering
bore none of the tension which preceded the rioting that marred a G8
summit in Genoa in July.
One of the organizers, Francesco Caruso of the anti-globalization
group No Global, put the turn-out at around 40,000.
"Everything went very peacefully," he told AFP.
"The police were very discreet. We reached our objective of saying a
big 'No' to war, and 'No' to terrorism," he added.
The absence of NATO leaders from Naples -- the city is home to the
alliance's Southern Command, and was originally to have hosted a NATO
meeting this week -- took much of the heat out of what had threatened
to be a tense sequel to the violence-marred Genoa summit, which
involved many of the same anti-globalisation groups at Thursday's
march.
Neither police nor any demonstrators wore protective riot gear, in
marked contrast to the Genoa meeting.
However some demonstrators took the precaution of wearing T-shirts
emblazoned with the phone number of a lawyer in case of arrest.
Hundreds of demonstrators were arrested after the Genoa riots, in
which one protester was shot dead, and many were later beaten amid
widespread claims of police brutality.
Police and carabinieri deployed in the city kept a discreet distance
from the mostly festive protesters who linked hands as the march snaked
toward the municipal building at Plebiscito square in the historic
center.
NATO leaders were originally scheduled to meet Wednesday and
Thurdsday at the alliance's southern command headquarters outside this
Mediterranean city but moved the meeting to Brussels in the wake of the
September 11 attacks, which caused US President George W. Bush to
launch what he called a crusade against terrorism.
In a throwback to the anti-war movement of the 1960s, the march had
headed off from the main train station led by a group carrying
hippy-style peace banners and chanting in English: "one, two, three,
four ... we don't want another war. Five, six, seven, eight ... stop
the violence, stop the hate."
Many were from left-wing organizations and carried portraits of Karl
Marx and Che Guevara.
One banner, referring to Bush and to fears that a military strike
could spark a retaliatory attack using biological weapons, read: "Sure,
W, we'll suck anthrax, so you can feel tough in your bunker."
Dozens of protesters carried Palestinian flags and chanted slogans in
support of the intifada, the Palestinian uprising. Also prominent was a
group of activists from the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who
called for the release of their jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Classics student Tonia Capuano, 17, who handed out Communist party
pamphlets, claimed many demonstrators had arrived from the northern
cities of Turin and Venice, as well as Rome, and the Sicilian city of
Palermo.
Capuano said she would demonstrate anyway against anti-globalisation,
"because that's where the war and the violence comes from".
Another marcher, Giuliano Malet, 25, said: "I feel that war in
Afghanistan, or Pakistan, would only hit poor people."
The United States blamed Islamic extremists based in Afghanistan as
prime suspects in the September 11 attacks on its territory.
Other marchers were angered by comments by Italian Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi in which he said that Christianity was superior to
Islam.
"It is absolutely senseless. It's like Hitler in 1933," one said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Talk of war leads to calls for peace
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/09/17/MN69802.DTL>
Many fear unending violence
by Pamela J. Podger, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, September 17, 2001
Caught between patriotism and pacifism, many Northern California residents
are recoiling at the official rhetoric of "ending" countries that harbor
terrorists.
These residents say they are chilled by Washington's rapid strides toward
armed retaliation for Tuesday's bombing of the World Trade Center and
Pentagon.
They want peace, not war, and fear that cranking up the military war
machine will unleash an endless era of violence.
"This is a tender time, between our grief and retaliation, where we should
do something different than bomb Afghanistan into the Stone Age," said
David Moss, a pastor at United Methodist Church in Auburn (Placer County).
The terrorist attacks have sparked introspection among those who cannot
condone President Bush's talk of war. Tuesday's tragedy, they say, requires
a response that also takes into account the decades of U.S. dominance
abroad and its unwavering support of Israel, as well as the CIA's training
of Osama bin Laden and simmering anti-Arab sentiments across the United
States. Demonstrations, protests and displays of nonviolent resistance are
likely in the days ahead.
While an array of religious leaders, including a Muslim imam, joined Bush
at the National Cathedral on Friday, the president needs to go even further
in that direction, some felt.
"Bush could bring about the healing by visiting a mosque,' said Palo Alto
resident Ann Reisenauer. "We need a statesman now who can speak in a voice
of reason."
Grace Marvin of Chico (Butte County) fears that military action will stoke
more terrorism and create a backlash of greater anti-American sentiment.
What is needed instead, she said, is a re-examination of U.S. support for
oppressive regimes.
"My horror and sadness is matched only by a fear that the current
administration will react inappropriately . . . resulting in needless
deaths," she said.
Cindy Joyce of Cupertino recalled how she wept openly, years ago, after she
visited Japan's Hiroshima Museum.
"I pray to God that if we are to stop terrorism in this world, we will use
our intelligence and our economic strength to crush our enemies before we
bomb countries and kill more innocent people," Joyce said.
The Bush administration has made it clear that it will pursue terrorists
wherever the hunt takes them and that a full range of action is on the
table in the war against terrorism.
"One has to say it's not just simply a matter of capturing people and
holding them accountable," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said
Thursday, "but removing the sanctuaries, removing the support systems,
ending states who sponsor terrorism."
Recent polls show that a substantial majority of Americans believe the
United States should retaliate, even if there is a loss of innocent
lives. Some people said the senseless slaying of around 5,000 people in
last week's attacks New York demands a flexing of military muscle and could
be part of the healing process.
"You have to strike back. It is culture against culture," said Chris Hunter
of El Cerrito. "Those people rejoiced in our suffering. If you don't do
anything, the terrorists will do it again, continuously, because they have
no respect for the United States."
Corey Lappier, 18, of San Francisco summed up his sentiments succinctly:
"We can't afford to do nothing."
Vietnam War veteran Richard Fox of Alta Loma said military retaliation was
warranted. "All these people know is violence," he said. "They are trying
to force their beliefs on us."
But world leaders, including Pope John Paul II, former South African
President Nelson Mandela and Cuban President Fidel Castro have urged
restraint.
Several people invoked the names of the Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi and
Martin Luther King as their heroes who faced confrontation with nonviolence.
Tai Sheridan, a yoga teacher and psychologist from Kentfield, said he was
disturbed by the reaction by U.S. leaders.
"It bothers me that America's first response is to pull out the war
machine, " he said. "Bush has said let's go kill the people who are
responsible. But violence never stopped the cycle of violence."
-----------
E-mail Pamela J. Podger at ppodger@sfchronicle.com.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anti-war groups rally for restraint
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&id=80329
by Jim Loney
Friday, September 21, 2001 (Reuters News)
WASHINGTON - As war rhetoric rang in Congress and in the streets,
some Americans marshalled forces on Thursday to urge President George
W Bush to restrain the use of military force in response to attacks
on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Students held peace rallies on Thursday in Boston, Michigan,
Wisconsin and the University of California-Berkeley, a focal point of
anti-war protest during the Vietnam era.
Even as they mourned the more than 6,500 dead or missing in New York,
Pennsylvania and Washington, a coalition of business and religious
leaders and others, including actor Martin Sheen and civil rights
legend Rosa Parks, said U.S. military action threatened to "spark a
cycle of escalating violence."
Many Americans have expressed a desire for revenge since the attacks,
and polls have indicated some 90% favored the use of military force.
But peace activists said there was a growing sentiment to curb war
talk against an enemy not yet clearly identified.
The business, entertainment and religious coalition ardently opposed
a military response. "It would spark a cycle of escalating violence,
the loss of innocent lives and new acts of terrorism," the group said
in a statement.
"The carnage of terror knows no borders. Our best chance for
preventing such devastating acts of terror is to act decisively and
cooperatively as part of a community of nations within the framework
of international law," the group said.
Signers included singer Harry Belafonte, actor Danny Glover, Ben &
Jerry's Ice Cream founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, singer
Bonnie Raitt and environmental, university and community groups.
"I think there will be a surprisingly large peace response to this
crisis," said Kit Bonson, a director of the Washington Peace Center,
a pacifist and human rights group planning a major event in the U.S.
capital on Sept 30. "I don't think the (Bush) administration
understands that yet."
In Berkeley, California, students geared up for protests opposing the
U.S. build-up in the Gulf and calling for an end to racial
scapegoating following last week's attacks.
Media magnate Ted Turner, in comments on Wednesday at the United
Nations where he delivered a $31 million check to cover part of U.S.
dues to the world body, cautioned Washington not to indiscriminately
start bombing countries.
"I think that since we have had terrorism for over 30 years in both
Israel and Ireland just by killing people, we've got to be awfully
careful that we don't hurt innocent people," he said.
A rally on Thursday at UC-Berkeley drew several hundred people. The
Berkeley Stop the War Coalition started a "green armband" protest in
solidarity with Arab and Muslim Americans.
"We totally sympathise with the victims' families and their friends,
but we also knew that there was going to be a huge amount of
backlash," said Yvette Felarca, a coalition member. "We're fighting
for justice at home."
Some 100 mostly student protesters carrying signs with slogans like
"All Violence is Wrong" held a vocal anti-war protest at the
University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor.
"I think the people who are against violence might be
under-represented in the media," said Nancy Stoll, 43, a homemaker
who joined the march with her three small children and a sign that
read: "Bombing Afghan Children Won't Help."
"You're seeing lots of American flags and lots of people that feel
the answer is to go and bomb them but I think there's a lot of people
out there who don't feel that way," she said.
At the University of Wisconsin's Madison campus, more than 400
people, mostly students, turned out for a rally, said Molly McGrath,
who works for the Progressive media project, which is part of the
liberal Progressive magazine.
"People are really upset about the racist backlash going on," McGrath
said, adding that the crowd chanted "1-2-3-4 we won't support your
racist war."
The Washington Peace Center said it would meet this weekend to
discuss a response to the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks and
to plan its peace event on Sept 30.
"Violence begets violence and there are alternatives to open-ended
war against an unidentified enemy," Bonson said.
The event, expected to attract a wide-range of anti-war activists,
was scheduled on the weekend the International Monetary Fund and
World Bank had intended to hold their annual meetings in the U.S.
capital. The organizations cancelled the meetings out of security
concerns.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rallies reflect opposing opinions on attacks
09/17/01
by GORDON OLIVER
Two rallies in downtown Portland on Sunday, held just three hours and a few
blocks apart, offered a glimpse of the diversity of opinion within the city
as the nation braces for war.
The first rally, held at noon in the South Park Blocks, was organized by a
new group called Portland Peaceful Response, which expects, and opposes, an
American military reaction to last week's terrorist attacks on New York
City and Washington, D.C.
The second was a prayer rally, starting at 3 p.m. in Pioneer Courthouse
Square, hosted by the Christian Coalition of Oregon, Americans for a Safe
Israel and Bridges for Peace, a Christian group. Sponsors of both events
estimated crowds of about 2,500 people.
The two gatherings shared common themes of sorrow and compassion for the
thousands of victims of the terrorists attacks, and participants created
flower memorials both in the South Park Blocks and Pioneer Courthouse Square.
But the tone of the events was starkly different.
Speakers and participants at the peace rally said they recognized the
overwhelming public support for a military response to the terrorist
attacks, but many said they feared that such an action would be
fruitless. Organizers said they are preparing to hold a rally if the
United States launches a military attack in pursuit of terrorists.
The mood at the prayer rally, on the other hand, was one of joy amid
tragedy that the nation seemed unified behind President Bush as the
nation's leaders consider their next moves.
The peace rally drew a crowd of mostly young and middle-aged adults who
listened and cheered speakers who said the United States should not resort
to a military response to the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon. There were few American flags in the crowd.
They paraded peacefully on the streets and sidewalks to Pioneer Courthouse
Square, circled the block, and returned to the park block behind the Arlene
Schnitzer Concert Hall in growing numbers, spilling onto sidewalks.
Bishara Costandi, a Palestinian resident of Portland and member of a
nonprofit group Arabs Building Community, said U.S. foreign policy creates
victims around the world and should be changed in order to create a lasting
peace.
"If you want peace, you have to have honor," he said. "Honor doesn't come
unless you have justice."
Participants seemed to gain energy from their numbers, and statements grew
more pointed and the applause more sustained after the parade to Pioneer
Courthouse Square and back.
Catherine Thomasson, of Physicians for Social Responsibility, said that
President Bush and the news media were working to prepare the nation for
war and curbs on civil liberties in order to fight terrorism.
"We need to say, 'No!' " she said to loud applause. "War results in hatred,
terror and a wish for revenge." She urged the nation to use political
pressure and the court system to curb the flow of money and arms to
terrorists.
At the prayer rally, speakers called on Americans to support and pray for
the president and said the nation needs to stand together without shunning
any group of Americans. They ranged from senior citizens to children, and
appeared to be more racially diverse than at the peace rally. Many waved
flags, held hands and sang patriotic songs led by the New Beginnings Church
choir.
Speakers focused on the acts of terrorism and the nation's response, with
repeated prayers asking for God's assistance to the nation.
"Those who did the deed and those who assisted them in any way must be
hunted down and destroyed," said Charlie Schiffman, executive director of
the Jewish Federation of Portland. He said that action should be taken not
out of vengeance but because "it is the only way we can guarantee they will
not strike again."
The Rev. Larry Huch of New Beginnings Church said that he worries about
news commentaries suggesting Americans should get over their anger and that
anger is not appropriate response for Christians. Huch said the Bible does
not condemn anger, but instead says it should not be used to commit sin.
"I want us to be angry at Satan. I want us to be angry at evil, and angry
at people who would steal our lives, steal our nation and put us under a
spell of fear," he said.
Some who attended the rallies said they didn't have answers to the problem
of fighting terrorism, but had strong opinions about what the nation should
or should not do.
At the peace gathering, social worker Keren McCord of Portland said she
lived in fear for several hours on Tuesday that her brother, who works in
the Pentagon, might have been a victim of the airplane crash there. She
learned that her brother had left the building before the airplane crash,
but said the experience makes her want to prevent other families, in other
countries, from loss of innocent life.
"I felt that terror and that horror," she said. "Innocent people would be
feeling the same experience I felt, and for that reason alone I can't
support it."
Many at the prayer rally said they believed God would help Bush make the
right decisions.
"I think God is going to take care of this for us," said Pilar Warren of
Portland.
But she said she did not want to see more violence in reaction to the
terrorist attacks. "I have two young children, and I'm not ready to send
them to die," she said.
-----------
You can reach Gordon Oliver at 503-221-8171 or by e-mail at
gordonoliver@news.oregonian.com.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peace protesters take to New York streets
By Anthony Browne, New York
September 16, 2001; The Observer (London)
New York showed remarkable solidarity against terrorism
in the wake of last week's atrocity, but divisions
started emerging yesterday over what action should be
taken against the perpetrators. A peace movement began
to emerge against the coming war that President George
Bush announced would be used to attack 'those who had
chosen their own destruction'.
But other Americans shouted down pleas for no revenge
to be taken, saying those behind the World Trade Centre
and Pentagon outrages should pay for their crimes with
their lives. Outside New York, as thousands of people
thronged the streets of Manhattan in a candlelit vigil
to remember the dead on Friday night, hundreds of
protesters waved placards warning against war and
racism.
While large numbers of people waved American flags,
just as many wandered around with notices strapped to
their bodies demanding 'global peace'. When some
sections of the crowd sang patriotic songs, others
retorted with the Beatles' 'Give Peace a Chance'.
Angry arguments broke out between those supporting
President Bush in his push for rapid retaliation, and
those insisting that America should not respond.
Similar arguments also took place in Central Park,
where a public debate on the war was held. One New
Yorker in favour of bombing Afghanistan angrily
scrawled the word 'Yes' over a huge poster that asked:
'Will more killing really lead to peace?'
Most of the placards at the vigil protested against the
rush to war. One said: 'Respect the dead: say no to
more killing.' Another set of pre-printed placards
read: 'An eye for an eye and the whole world is blind.'
Dozens of people placed hand-painted peace symbols on
the ground in Union Square. One peace protester said:
'All this war talk disgusts and frightens me. It will
just escalate out of control.' Another argued: 'It used
to be that offence was the best form of defence. But
that doesn't work against terrorism.'
Other placards warned against racism, in the wake of a
spate of attacks agains Muslims and mosques across the
country.
One group waved placards saying 'Arab Americans are
Fellow Americans', while another protester held a
placard saying: 'Racist Patriotism is Cowardice.'
Elsewhere, military recruiting offices reported record
numbers of young Americans applying to enlist for US
forces.
'I saw what happened on television,' said one man
enlisting in Missouri. 'The people who did that need to
pay.'
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Journalists form anti-war group
http://media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/story/0,7495,557372,00.html
Jessica Hodgson
Monday September 24, 2001
A group of senior journalists and media figures who oppose military action
against Afghanistan are creating a coalition to register their disquiet and
monitor the coverage of the conflict in the media.
Co-ordinated by the writer Mike Marquese, the group, called Media Workers
Against the War, is meeting tonight to form a committee and organise further
meetings.
The campaigning, left-of-centre journalists John Pilger, Paul Foot, Hilary
Wainwright and the cricket writer, Rob Steen, are at the heart of the group.
Marquese said he had been "overwhelmed" with support from writers and
journalists across the country.
"We need to monitor the issues as they are reported in the mainstream media,
which - with some exceptions - are not giving an accurate picture of the
situation in South Asia," he said.
Pilger, a veteran war correspondent, who has been vocal in his opposition to
American military action in the Gulf, Iraq and the Balkans, added his
support to the group.
"With honourable exceptions, the coverage of this situation has been the
same old rush to war," he told MediaGuardian.co.uk.
"Whenever there's military intervention by America or Nato, regardless of
what kind of war this is, you find newspaper stories about the SAS and
reports from military chiefs in the area. There are almost no independent or
opposition views," Pilger said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, September 27, 2001
"Not in Our Names"
Relatives of Terror Attack Victims Speak Out
Some family members of the victims killed in the September 11 attacks are
speaking out in opposition to the administration's apparent military plans.
Judy Keane, who lost her husband Richard, said: "Bombing Afghanistan is
just going to create more widows, more homeless, fatherless children."
[CNN, 9/25; see
also http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/exile/dn20010921.html] Jill
Gartenberg, whose husband Jim was killed, said that "we don't win by
killing other people." [Fox, 9/24] Amber Amundson lost her husband, Craig,
in the Pentagon. She wrote in the Chicago Tribune [9/25,
http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0925-06.htm] "If you choose to respond
to this incomprehensible brutality by perpetuating violence against other
innocent human beings, you may not do so in the name of justice for my
husband." Gavin Cushny's brother Rupert Eales-White stated, "If military
action results in the deaths of innocent Afghans then 100 more Bin Ladens
will rise from the grave." [The Independent, 9/22,
http://commondreams.org/headlines01/0922-01.htm] The parents of Deora
Bodley have spoken out. Her mother Deborah Borza said: "Let this passing be
the start of a new conversation ... that provides a future for all mankind
to live in harmony and respect." [San Francisco Chronicle, 9/22,
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/09/22/MN123903.DTL]
The following family members are available for limited interviews:
PHYLLIS and ORLANDO RODRIGUEZ, skent@kentcom.com,
http://www.corpwatch.org/bulletin/2001/0074.html,
http://commondreams.org/views01/0919-08.htm
They said: "Our son Greg is among the many missing from the World Trade
Center attack. We cannot pay attention to the daily flow of news about this
disaster. But we read enough of the news to sense that our government is
heading in the direction of violent revenge, with the prospect of sons,
daughters, parents, friends in distant lands dying, suffering, and nursing
further grievances against us. It is not the way to go. It will not avenge
our son's death. Not in our son's name. Our son died a victim of an inhuman
ideology. Our actions should not serve the same purpose. Let us grieve. Let
us reflect and pray. Let us think about a rational response that brings
real peace and justice to our world."
MATTHEW LASAR, matthew@lasarletter.com, http://www.lasarletter.com
In his speech at the National Cathedral memorial service, President Bush
praised an unnamed man "who could have saved himself" but instead "stayed
until the end and at the side of his quadriplegic friend." Lasar said
today: "That man was my uncle, Abe Zelmanowitz. When the first airplane
struck, Abe could not bear to abandon his wheelchair-using colleague, and
called his family to say so. Despite their pleading, he insisted that he
would stay. They have been missing ever since. My mother, who lives 20
minutes from the WTC, is in a state of shock. I mourn the death of my
uncle, and I want his murderers brought to justice. But I am not making
this statement to demand bloody vengeance. A senator from my state, Dianne
Feinstein, said: 'U.S. must spare no effort to uncover, ferret out and
destroy those: who commit acts of terrorism; who provide training camps;
who shelter; who finance; and who support terrorists. Whether that entity
is a state or an organization, those who harbor them, arm them, train them
and permit them must, in my view, be destroyed.' How does one destroy
states? Through the covert subversion of their societies? Through carpet
bombing? Afghanistan has more than a million homeless refugees. A U.S.
military intervention could result in the starvation of tens of thousands
of people. What I see coming are actions and policies that will cost many
more innocent lives, and breed more terrorism, not less. I do not feel that
my uncle's compassionate, heroic sacrifice will be honored by what the U.S.
appears poised to do."
For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Campuses divided as anti-war lobby grows
<http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=95418>
Peace Campaigners
By David Usborne in New York
22 September 2001
It may be premature to call it a fully fledged anti-war movement, but
voices are being raised across the United States, and elsewhere, urging
George Bush and his military to show restraint in punishing those
responsible for attacks on the World Trade Centre.
In scenes reminiscent of the peace protests during the Vietnam war,
thousands of students rallied on more than a hundred US campuses on
Thursday, the first of many more gatherings planned. Some of the protests
drew counter-demonstrations demanding military retribution.
Some of the energy that has driven the anti-capitalist demonstrations at
recent world trade and financial meetings is almost certain now to be
redirected into the anti-war effort.
A peace protesters' gathering has been called for 30 September, in
Washington DC. Many activists had been planning on that day to go to the
city for a meeting of the World Bank now cancelled.
Kit Bonson, a director of the Washington Peace Centre, which is planning
the event, said: "I think there'll be a surprisingly large peace response
to this crisis. I don't think the Bush administration understands that yet."
Mr Bonson, who said arrangements for the event would be finalised this
weekend, echoed the feelings of many of the students who demonstrated on
Thursday, when he added:
"Violence begets violence and there are alternatives to open-ended war
against an unidentified enemy."
Meanwhile, a coalition of business, religious and entertainment leaders has
formed to denounce any military response to the atrocities. Those who have
signed a document urging caution include the actor Martin Sheen and the
civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks. The group says military action will "spark
a cycle of escalating violence, the loss of innocent lives and new acts of
terrorism".
A statement from the group, which also includes Harry Belafonte, the actor
Danny Glover and the co-founders of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, Ben Cohen and
Jerry Greenfield, added:
"The carnage of terror knows no borders. Our best chance for preventing
such devastating acts of terror is to act decisively and co-operatively as
part of a community of nations within the framework of international law."
The forum for such co-operation would be the United Nations. But so far
the UN has been sidelined by the US, the group says. Ted Turner, the UN's
most generous private benefactor, used an appearance at its headquarters on
Wednesday to join those expressing concern. He warned Washington not to
"indiscriminately start bombing countries". And he added: "I think that
since we have had terrorism for more than 30 years in both Israel and
Ireland, just by killing people, we have got to be awfully careful we don't
hurt innocent people".
But just as recent polls have shown 90 per cent support among Americans for
military action, there is no shortage of pro-war sentiment among the
students, too. Some campuses in the US are showing signs of deep division.
At Harvard, for example, the debate is being conducted through scrawled
messages left on sheets of brown paper taped to common room walls.
"Find those responsible, their friends and accomplices, their families and
neighbours, and destroy them," The New York Times reports one student
writing. Next to it was the written rejoinder: "How does this make us
better than them? You don't answer evil with evil."
By far the biggest turn-out for the anti-war contingent has been at the
University of California at Berkeley, which was the cradle of the peace and
free-speech movements that developed in the Sixties.
About 2,000 anti-war protesters turned out to be met by a few hundred
counter-demonstrators chanting "USA" and waving American flags.
Groups planning to switch, for the time being, the focus of the
anti-capitalist movement to the anti-war effort, include Britain's
Globalise Resistance Movement, based in London.
Guy Taylor, a spokesman, said: "We will be campaigning primarily against
the war because you can't have global justice without a globe that is the
way a lot of people are seeing it. We don't see any action against
Afghanistan remaining just that, it will very quickly generalise and become
a much wider proposition."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peace Movement Prospects
By Michael Albert
September 11 went well beyond tragic. Worse is possible. Much better is
also possible. And to achieve better is why activists need to not only
mourn, but also to educate and organize. But many people I encounter
doubt peace movement prospects. I find this wrong for two reasons.
One, doubting prospects wastes time. Even when prospects of change are
dim, to work for better outcomes is always better then to bemoan
difficulties.
Two, contrary to despondency, current circumstances auger hope. "Are you
crazy?" some people will ask. It is one thing to urge action, but it is
another thing to surrender reason to desire. However, it is not desire
that gives me hope, but evidence.
Last night there was a two hour marathon Hollywood extravaganza
broadcast by all major networks and watched by millions. Elites are
urging lock-step obedience. Johnny and Jill are supposed to be donning
marching boots. Yet this was no pep rally for war. There was nearly
courage of those who worked to save lives, often giving their own. The
evening's songs sought restraint and understanding and explicitly
rejected cycles of retribution and hate. Don't get me wrong. The evening
wasn't ZNet set to music. But nor did it support piling terror on top of
terror. If the right-wing were actually as ascendant as so many fear, we
would have had the Bob Hope and Charlton Heston Hour. We didn't.
More, in the last few days there have been scores of small and also some
quite large demonstrations and gatherings. Reports indicate there are
105 scheduled today, Saturday. There is no war yet. But there is
resistance, and it is growing rapidly.
Just two days ago I was asked to be on a national radio call-in show
with a listenership of roughly two million from all over the country.
The host, a Republican, thought there would be division emerging about
any war plans and he wanted to offer diverse voices (which is itself a
good sign). He told me I'd be on for fifteen minutes. The time came,
they called, I was asked how I differed from Bush. I answered, and the
discussion continued for two hours. The host eventually left hostility
behind, becoming more and more curious. Many callers were hostile, sure,
but they were also open to cogent commentary. The simple formulation
that attacking civilians is terrorism, that terrorism is horrible, and
that therefore we should not attack civilians, was irrefutable. More
interesting, no one even tried to rebut contextual argument and
evidence. They made clear they knew my claims about U.S. policies in
Iraq and elsewhere were true and they would with a few exceptions even
grudgingly assent to them, so the remaining issue was whether the U.S.
should be bound by the same morals that we hope others will be bound by,
a dispute that is easy to win with anyone but a fanatic. I won't proceed
with details. The point is, even in a right-wing forum, many people will
hear our views, understand them, and even change their minds.
U.S. elites like war. War sends the message that laws do not bind U.S.
elites, that morality does not bind U.S. elites, that nothing binds U.S.
elites but their estimates of their own interests. It trumpets that
everybody else better ratify our plans, or at least get out of the way.
Likewise, for U.S. elites, war preparedness is good economics. Military
spending primes the capitalist pump and spurs its engines, but crucially
military spending doesn't give those in the middle and at the bottom
better conditions or better housing or more education or better health
care or anything else that will make people less afraid, more
knowledgeable, more secure, and particularly more able to develop and
pursue their own agendas regarding economic distribution. War empowers
the rich and powerful, but its real virtue is that it disempowers
working people and the disenfranchised poor. War annihilates
deliberation. It elevates mainstream media to dominate communication
even more than in peacetime. War abets repression by demanding
obedience. It labels dissent treason, or in this case, incipient
terrorism. Elites like all this, not surprisingly. So while elites
gravitate toward a war on terrorism for these reasons, what, if
anything, might obstruct their plans?
When Bush says that attacking civilians for political purposes is wrong
and urges that we must find ways to eliminate such terrorism - he is
very compelling to almost everyone. But when in the very next breath
Bush urges as the method of doing so diverse military attacks on
civilians (or starving them), his hypocrisy begs critique. As a solution
to the danger of terrorism, committing more terrorism that in turn
breeds still more, will not sustain support. Likewise, to fight
fundamentalism with assertions that God is on our side, will also prove
uninspiring. Five-year-olds can and will dissent. And so will adults.
So what obstructs war? People do. It's that simple. People who first
doubt the efficacy and morality of piling terror on top of terror.
People who slowly move from quiet dissent to active opposition. People
who move from opposing the violence of war and barbarity of starvation
to challenging the basic institutions that breed war and starvation. If
elites choose war as a national program they will do so in hopes that it
can defend and even enlarge their advantages. If we act so that war
instead spurs public understanding, and opposition not only to war, but
in time even to elite rule - then elites will reconsider their agenda.
Indeed, I bet many are already having grave doubts.
So how hard is our task? What do most people think about this situation,
before activism has countered media madness? Well, it certainly isn't
definitive, but Gallup polls give us more reason for hope.
First question: "Once the identity of the terrorists known, should the
American government launch a military attack on the country or countries
where the terrorists are based or should the American government seek to
extradite the terrorists to stand trial?" In Austria 10% said we should
attack. In Denmark 20%, Finland 14%, France 29%, Germany 17%, Greece 6%,
Italy 21%, Bosnia 14%, Bulgaria 19%, Czechoslavakia 22%, Croatia 8%,
Estonia 10%, Latvia 21%, Lithuania 15% Romania 18%, Argentina 8%,
Colombia 11%, Ecuador 10%, Mexico 2%, Panama 16%, Peru 8%, Venezuela
11%, and even in the U.S. only 54% favor attacking. Gallup didn't get
numbers for China, for the mideast countries, etc.
Gallup next asks: "If the United States decides to launch an attack,
should the U.S. attack military targets only, or both military and
civilian targets?" In Austria 82% said only military targets. In Denmark
84%, Finland 76%, France 84%, Germany 84%, Greece 82%, Italy 86%, Bosnia
72%, Bulgaria 71%, Czechoslavakia 75%, Estonia 88%, Latvia 82%,
Lithuania 73% Romania 85%, Argentina 70%, Colombia 71%, Ecuador 74%,
Mexico 73%, Panama 62%, Peru 66%, Venezuela 81%, and even in the U.S.
56% favor attacking only military targets, 28% attacking both military
and civilian, and 16% gave no answer.
It seems clear that we do not inhabit a world lined up for protracted
war. We live, instead, in a world that is prepared for arguments against
war, for opposition to war, and even, in time, for addressing the basic
structural causes that produce war. Humanity does not lack scruples or
logic, but only information and knowledge. If people have information
and if they can escape media manipulation and conformity, they will draw
worthy conclusions. Our task is to provide information and help break
conformity.
Finally, regarding the issues at hand.how hard is it to understand the
obvious? The U.S. postal system is not run by exemplary humanitarians or
geniuses, much less by radicals. Yet in response to workers killing
others on the job--which is called "going postal"--the postal service
did not decide to determine where the offending parties lived and attack
those neighborhoods for harboring terrorists. They also did not say that
the stress of postal work justifies serial homicide in the workplace, of
course. They instead legally prosecuted, on the one hand, and also
realized that stress was a powerful contributing factor and so worked to
reduce stress to in turn diminish the likelihood of people going postal.
Anyone can extend this analogy. It isn't complicated.
For that matter, the U.S. government, which is certainly not a
repository of wisdom or moral leadership, doesn't generally decide about
terrorism to hold whole populations accountable. When Timothy McVeigh
bombed innocents, the Federal government called it horrific, accurately,
but did not declare war on Idaho and Montana for harboring cells of the
groups McVeigh was associated with -- much less on all people sharing
McVeigh's race or religion. The government opted to prove McVeigh's
culpability and to employ legal means to restrain him and try the case.
What makes September 11 different regarding our government's agenda is
not so much the larger scale of the horror, but instead its utility to
the government's reactionary programs. In the case of McVeigh, bombing
Montana wouldn't benefit elites. In the case of September 11, elites
think bombing diverse targets will benefit their capitalist
profit-making and geopolitical interests. That's harsh. That's about the
harshest thing one could say, I guess, in some sense, in this situation.
It is devilish opportunism. Yet, I honestly think that at some level
everyone knows it's true. It has gotten to that point in this country.
They play with our lives like we are their little toys.and we know it,
and we have to put a stop to it, a step at a time.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Wed Oct 03 2001 - 19:15:34 EDT